First Impression
by cflat
Summary: Tag to episode 2 Many Happy Returns. Zoe's first impression of her father's new house.


Disclaimer: I do not own Eureka.

Summary: Tag to episode 2- Many Happy Returns. Zoe's first impression of her father's new house.

Author's note: After I saw the episode Many Happy Returns, I had wondered what Zoe's reaction to SARAH (and the house) was like, and later what exactly took place in Jack and Zoe's father/daughter conversation. This is my take on that. I hope you like it.

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**First Impression**

My name is Zoe Carter. I'm 15 years old, and I live in LA with my parents, Jack and Abby Carter; or, at least, I did. My father is a US Marshall- and a workaholic. Since he's hardly at home, I found another way to get his attention- mostly by breaking some laws. I didn't do anything too serious (it's not like I killed somebody or anything); I just stole a couple of things… and posed as a flight attendant.

Actually, it's because of my last stunt that I got my dad transferred (or, as his old boss calls it, "promoted"). Like most men, my father didn't want to stop for directions when we got lost after my dad picked me up from my latest stunt. So, here we were—driving along the road when out of nowhere this dog comes out and stops in the middle of the road. Naturally, my dad swerves to avoid the dog, and his car gets injured instead of us. We end up walking into a town called Eureka. Eureka is an extremely weird small town. Anyway, we ended up staying there for a couple of strange days. I was relieved when we finally left Eureka with the car totally fixed.

It was only a couple of days later when my dad was "promoted" as the new sheriff of Eureka. One can say I was surprised when he told me about it.

Dad was only gone for about a couple of days before I decided that I didn't like this arrangement. It's not that I don't love my mother- I do. It's just that I decided that I really wanted to live with my father. I had my escape planned all out. I'd go to school, and then catch a bus to Eureka after school. That way, my mom wouldn't find out about my escape until I was already gone.

My plan went smoothly. That day, after school, I headed to the bus station, and got aboard the correct bus without any trouble. It was evening by the time I got to Eureka.

When I arrived in Eureka, the first place I went to was the sheriff's office. I had no clue where my dad was staying here, so I figured that Jo (my dad's deputy) would know. Since it was rather late, I knew that it was risky that anyone would still be working at the sheriff's office. But luck was with me because even though my dad had left for the night, Jo was still there. Jo was nice enough and drove me to my dad's new place.

My dad's new place was not what I was expecting. I was expecting it to at least look like a normal house, but that was not the case. Instead of a nice house, or at least a temporary house, the entrance to where my dad was staying looked like the entrance of a bomb shelter. It was brown, and looked like it was in need of a good paint job.

Jo stopped the car close to the building, and we headed up to the door. I was somewhat surprised that the door I saw on the outside wasn't the main front door. The outside door opened up to a stairway, which lead down to another door. It was here that Jo knocked on the door.

"Just a minute," I heard a muffled voice say through the door. A few seconds later, the door opened.

"I don't mean to be rude-," my dad said as he opened the door. He abruptly stopped what he was saying when he caught sight of me. I think this is one of the few times that I have been able to make him speechless.

"Hi, Dad," I said, smiling at him. "You know, your yard needs a lot of work." I sort of motioned towards the outer door as I said the last part.

"Turns out this couldn't wait until morning," Jo said. She looked at us both, smiled, and then said, "Bye." She left.

"Speaking of which," I said as Jo left, and I headed in the underground house, "where's my room?" My dad was still slightly stunned as he closed the door as I looked around the house.

Despite the appearance of the building outside, the inside was amazing. I guess this fits in with the saying 'don't judge a book by its cover'. But seriously, this house looks like it's supposed to belong to rich, and possibly, famous people. Briefly, I wondered how my dad could afford this place. I mean, now he was just a sheriff, and not a US Marshall. I don't think that sheriff's get paid big bucks.

"Dad," I said as I looked around the house, "this place is awesome!" I glanced at my dad, who was just standing near the door, looking at me look around the house.

"Zoe," he began, but I cut him off as I walked into the kitchen.

"Is this the fridge?" I asked him excitedly. The refrigerator really did look like it belonged to someone rich. Instead of being white, and with two handles, it was metal looking and intact into the wall.

"Yes, it is," a female's voice replied instead of my dad.

Startled, I looked around the room. "Who said that?" I asked my father. As far as I could tell, we were the only people in this room. So, where could that female voice have come from?

Looking back at my dad, I was surprised to see he was smiling at me. "That was SARAH," he informed me. I looked at him, confused.

"Who's Sarah?" I asked him, thinking confusedly that maybe some woman was hiding here somewhere or something like that.

"SARAH stands for-," Unable to remember what SARAH apparently stood for, he asked out loud, "what does SARAH stand for again, SARAH?"

"Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat," was the automatic reply.

"Right," my dad said, snapping his fingers. "That's what it stands for." He said the last part more to himself than me.

"So, SARAH's sort of like that computer on _Star Trek: Voyager_, right?" I asked him. I had always thought that the computer on _Voyager _was awesome. Now, I got to have a similar one in my very own home! How cool was that?

"Uh, yeah," my dad said, thinking about it, "I guess so. I never thought about it. Look, Zoe…" he said, changing the subject. "We need to have a talk."

I looked at him. "We do?" I had known that he would probably eventually want to have a talk. I just wasn't sure when.

"Yes," he replied, sitting down on a couch near the kitchen. "We do."

"Okay," I said, as I sat down across from him.

"Why did you run away from your mother?" He asked me. I could tell he was more curious than angry, at the moment anyway, about the situation. I knew, without a doubt, that he would be very angry at what I'd done in order to get here, so I knew that I couldn't tell him about it… especially if I wanted to stay here.

I shrugged at his question. "The arrangement wasn't working out," I said. "Plus, I wanted to live with you." I admitted to him. On his part, he seemed surprised that I would want to live with him. Even though I'd lived with him before (with my mom there too, of course), he'd hardly ever been home. Now, since he was going to be staying in one spot, I figured I could get more of his attention this way. That was the only reason why I acted out the way I did in the past—to get his attention. I think that it worked, for the most part.

"Zoe," My dad said and sighed. "Couldn't you have just talked to your mother about it instead of running away like that?"

"Would both of you have let me?" I asked him. He sighed, again. I took that for a 'no'.

"Well," he began, "if you're going to live here, there are going to be a few rules." He stated.

"Okay," I said. I could stand a few rules if I was aloud to live here. As he rattled off a few rules, I found myself either nodding or saying "okay," to them.

"And, the number one rule," my father continued, "is no secrets."

"No secrets?" I repeated, slightly surprised. For some reason, I had expected the "number one" rule to be something totally different. Of course, with my history of keeping secrets, I should not have been surprised that this is the number one rule.

"That's right," he said, nodding. "No secrets. I will keep no secrets from you, and you will keep no secrets from me. Those are the rules," he finished. "Deal?" He held out his hand for me to shake.

"Deal," I said as I shook his hand, feeling slightly guilty about not telling him about the way I'd had to get here. But knowing that he'd be furious about that, I didn't say anything about it.

"So, Dad," I began. He looked at me. "Where's my room?" I asked, repeating my earlier question.

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So, how was that? Reviews are appreciated!

Edited: 8/22/2009


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